Shelling kills civilian in Yemen capital

Shells fired into a popular shopping district of Yemen's capital killed one civilian and wounded two others on Tuesday, witnesses and medical officials said.

The two shells slammed into Hayel Road late in the morning as the area was packed with shoppers and pedestrians, killing one man, the witnesses said.

A medical official in Sanaa confirmed the report. Hayel Road is in a part of the capital controlled by the first armored division of the army, headed by the prominent General Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar who defected in support of anti-regime protesters.

Control of Sanaa is divided among three armed groups General Ahmar's division, loyalists of President Ali Abdullah Saleh, and armed tribesman led by powerful tribal chief Sadeq al-Ahmar. The attack is the second deadly one of its kind in the capital during the past three days.

On Sunday, a seven-year-old girl was killed by a rocket that struck a school in central Sanaa. Saleh, in power for 33 years, has so far refused to resign despite the wave of popular protests that has swept the country since January demanding he step down.

The U.N. envoy to Yemen, Jamal Benomar, who arrived in the country last month to try to resolve the deteriorating political crisis, left Sanaa on Monday without success.